US, South Korea and Japan to hold large-scale military exercises

On 13 November, the United States, South Korea and Japan started the second large-scale trilateral exercise, Freedom Edge, involving army, navy, air force, and cyber forces units.

As reported by Yonhap, citing the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the exercises are aimed at strengthening allied security cooperation amid North Korea's deepening ties with Russia, they will take place in international waters south of the Korean island of Jeju and will last until Friday, 15 November.

Warships and warplanes from the three countries will be involved in the drills, including the USS George Washington aircraft carrier and missile destroyers from the South Korean Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces.

The training will cover a number of areas, including

• joint air and missile defence;
• anti-submarine warfare;
• blocking sea routes;
• countering cyber attacks.

The three nations "have strongly condemned North Korea’s provocative acts, including the test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), that threaten peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and within the region," the JCS said.

"The exercise reflects the will to deter and respond to such threats," the JCS’s statement concluded.

On 1 November, the US and South Korea launched the first ever joint drone exercises.

On 7 November, US President-elect Donald Trump called his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol; they discussed, among other topics, the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine.